MIDDAY FARM REPORT

2012 –Nonmuney Records4**** Tim Winton is a talented singer songwriter who, thanks to his vocals and ability to write some tremendously literate songs and melodies, could have been born for the purpose of performing high quality alt. country. Tim handles the lead vocals plus guitar, dobro, banjo and harmonica, with his son Griffin on harmony vocals, guitar, mandolin and harmonica. To round out this really tight, talented quartet Chuck Haston is on drums and percussion with Daniel Sheets playing upright bass. There are not too many father and son based bands in alt. country and whilst there is no apparent‘generation gap,’ their sound does benefit from the close harmonies between the two and if this debut album is an example of the talent they can call upon, their future should be really bright. Virtually all of the instrumentation is acoustic and the playing is always excellent as is the production and arrangements in which you can pick out all of the individual instruments. It takes a lot of confidence to produce a debut of this quality and sparseness and when you listen to the quite gripping story lines and the singing it is no wonder they have that confidence. There are some tremendous tales contained within these eleven songs with most being written by Tim. The exceptions to this are Pretty Thing and Annie June by Sam Young, Farm Song (no other way) by Allen Ramsey and The Cherry Creek Mill by Kent Henderson and Tim Winton. Although this is not a ‘concept album’ as such, many of the songs seem to be rooted in southern U.S working communities and the trials and tribulations they face through life, often from outsiders, i.e. money men and politicians. There is a thirty second intro that sets the scene, with the Midday Farm report apparently being a radio programme for the farmers. I’m guessing the programme is fictitious although the fact that I’ve been unable to track it down is no guarantee of such. There is a short vocal and electric guitar break midway, Pretty Thing, that includes radio distortion, which when you take into account some of the stories ensures there is a loose theme that runs through this well thought out recording. Coal is a tremendous song, with the gorgeous sound of a dobro on a really strong story of someone who turns to strip coal mining to make ends meet and the rifts the practice causes in communities and to the land itself. It really is a terrific and thought provoking alt. country tale with Tim’s vocals having just the right amount of gravel to them. This is followed by the just as excellent Hammer On Steel, a nice repetitive slow to medium paced tale about the passing down through family of practical skills. The song has a metronomic tempo that actually echoes ‘a hammer on steel,’ ensuring the tale could just as easily be a metaphor for the industrial manufacturing of the steel industry. A really atmospheric song. Allen Ramsey’s The Farm Song (no other way) is a nice walking shuffle with acoustic guitar and lovely banjo with atmospheric harmonica on another sad story song, this one about a man who takes to smuggling drugs to get the money to keep the family farm going. There is the tremendously well written ‘comedy song’ Golf a paean to a game (or is it a sport?) that actually makes watching the grass grow an interesting passtime (or is it a sport?) It is areally good humourous tale that works and flows incredibly well. Politicians has a lovely mandolin sound on as good a summing up of these disreputable beings as any cynic (realist!?) could wish for! It seems strange that with Tims overall musical quality he has had to wait this long to make a debut album and hopefully this excellent recording has opened the floodgates to his and the bands creativity.